Jernie's Hub

Saturday morning we drove to the Niagara-On-The-Lake. It was an hour and 45 minutes drive along the lake side from Toronto. On our way we passed by the steel factory in Hamilton, the region of vineyards and the beautiful sight of the lake. As we were approaching Niagara-On-The-Lake, I was pre-occupied taking a good look at the beautiful landscape of the town, the houses and villas, the fields nearby. It’s a pretty and quiet place. At around 12:30nn we arrived at Aunt Rosie’s house. She has a lovely place. She’s managing her own „Bed & Breakfast". We were welcomed with a warm German lunch. After lunch, she took us around her home and garden. I would say that her place is very clean, in order and very well-organized, typical German home.

At around 2pm we drove to the town center to buy things we need. On our way we took the road along the lake so we could see the beautiful houses and villas by the lake. Amazing! This place is really perfect for holidays and retirement. Aunt Rosie was telling us that many of the people who live there are rich, really rich but she is not one of them (lol). She said that she wonders how these people earn that much money because she worked all her life so hard but she didn’t get that much (hahahahaha).I told them that I want to go back there walking to have a good look of the view and enjoy that peaceful and relaxing feeling by the lake.

After just a few minutes we were at the town center. We strolled around the shopping area which is well decorated for the Christmas season. After almost 2 hours we hit the road back home. Aunt Rosie was our sort of tour guide.I noticed that there were many Antique shops around. She said that people there are crazy about Antiques.

We stopped by a flower shop, a place I really love to be in. There were rows and rows of Poinsettias. I never knew that Poinsettias come in various colors. All the while I have seen only red. Oh! The place was overwhelming: the beautiful flowers and Christmas decorations. I couldn’t resist taking one with us. I just hope that it will survive at least until Christmas. Back home in Germany, I managed to let quite a number of plants already to suffer as I always forget to water them. I hope not this time.

Back in the Aunt Rosie’s house, we were enjoying our coffee with the very delicious home-made German cookies (Plätzchen). It is a tradition in Germany when Christmas is approaching, the family will bake together cookies in different assortments. With my mother-in-law, we normally start baking in November. Every Saturday we make at least 3 assortments. It is indeed, a wonderful family tradition. I will surely do it with my children in the future. I used to prepare pretty packs of these cookies as gifts to my then classmates and teacher in my German class. I miss it though.

We went out for dinner to the Anchorage Restaurant by the lake. The place was nice and cozy but relatively empty. The food was fantastic. Outside, it was extremely cold. I can’t stand it. After dinner we drove back, the Christmas decors lit the streets and houses. We called the night off at around midnight.

The next morning when we opened the window the completely white landscape greeted us, snow all over the place. It was really overwhelming! I quickly picked-up my camera to take a couple of shots. After our breakfast Herbert and I decided to go out and clear the snow around the house. It was not that cold anymore like the night before. It was my first experience to be in this ocean of snow. I took the shovel and Herbert used the snow blower machine. We even volunteered to do the neighbor’s front yard too. It was really fun.

In the afternoon we were gearing-up to drive to the Niagara Falls which is only 30 minutes away from there. It’s a pity I couldn’t go to the lake again and walk around the neighborhood because of the snow. I had to do it again next time.

On our way to the Niagara Falls, I was again busy with my camera capturing those breath-taking views. It was hazy and poor visibility. We were wondering if we will still push through because we might not be able to see anything at the falls. But we nevertheless proceed. As we were closing in, I was getting excited. I never expected I would ever see this beautiful place. Looking for a parking space was not easy; we had to drive around to find the best place we could get.

We walked down to the falls area, it was misty. We couldn't get a clear view of the falls but it was ok. There were not many people around, just few tourists wandering around and taking pictures. We did take a walk around the viewing place, had a good look of the two falls (Canada side and US side) and took a couple of pictures. Definitely we have to go back there when the weather is nice. I hope we can see this place during the summer. Crossing the river is a bridge connecting to the US side. It was definitely the highlight of the weekend get-away.

Since it was getting dark, we started to drive back to downtown. The weather was horrible, heavy rains and strong winds.